Daily Archives: 2017-01-12

Independence Day: Resurgence is a 2016 American science fiction adventure film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Emmerich, Dean Devlin, Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, and James Vanderbilt. It is the sequel to the 1996 film Independence Day and stars an ensemble cast featuring Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, and Sela Ward.

The film is set twenty years after the events of the first film. In that time the United Nations has collaborated on the Earth Space Defense (ESD), an international military defense and research organization, and has developed hybrid technology reverse-engineered from the invaders’ in anticipation that they would one day return. Unexpectedly, the aliens return in unprecedented force on the 20th anniversary of the initial war and once again humanity is required to fight for its very survival.

The by-line for this was
‘We Had Twenty Years to Prepare – So Did They’

It should have been
‘Bigger, Dumber, Duller’

Despite an obviously larger budget for effects, this film lacks the charm of the original film. There are no big charismatic performances to match Will Smith. Liam Hemsworth just doesn’t compare. It ended up with 31% on rotten tomatoes.
Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a negative review, saying, “This should be dumb fun. It’s just dumb”. And another review called it a “planet-smashingly boring sci-fi sequel.” Good thing I saw this on TV and didn’t pay for it.